FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| VIEWPOINT "Some of my best friends are gay." Ah, the line. It has undoubtedly been making its fair share of appearances this past week as Alberta's knuckle-dragging set bemoans the Supreme Court's decision to extend basic human rights protection to gays and lesbians in our progressive province. The catch is that the line is true for each and every one of us. Every talk-radio cowboy, corner store bigot and self-styled "democrat" has a friend, sibling, child or co-worker who is gay or lesbian; someone they like, have over to dinner, and maybe even love. They just don't know it yet. And that really says it all, doesn't it? Those who oppose the extension of the Individual Rights Protection Act to prevent gays and lesbians from being fired or losing their homes because of who they love have to admit something pretty hideous about themselves. They must acknowledge that discovering their friend or family member possessed an immutable genetic characteristic, factory-installed by God for all we know, that would never hurt them or anyone else, could make them cast off their friendship, renounce that person as a human being and sanction their persecution by state and individual alike. It's beneath pathetic when you think about it. It's almost as pathetic that it took the Supreme Court to kick the Alberta government's sorry ass into line with the fundamental Canadian values of equality and tolerance. It's even more pathetic than the apologists who are protesting the Vriend decision as a violation of some sacred democratic principle. By enacting the IRPA, Alberta clearly demonstrated that basic protection from discrimination is part of the Alberta way. Gays and lesbians were specifically and exclusively denied this protection because a few bible-thumpers and Neanderthals held sway in the cabinet room. The unconstitutionality, not to mention the immorality, of what Alberta did is beyond dispute. The government chose to deny gays and lesbians equal protection under the law - a protection it had declared fundamental for everyone else. This choice violated both the dictates of human decency and a little thing called Section 15 of the charter. If there is a rational distinction between denying gays and lesbians protection under the IRPA and excluding black children from public schools, I sure as hell can't fathom what it is. The fact this discrimination was perpetrated by our elected officials is no excuse, no matter what some of our more eloquent and widely-published rednecks would have us believe. The Calgary Herald's Peter Stockland should read a little history. In 1937 our former premier, the illustrious Bible Bill Aberhart, tried to introduce a law that would effectively have allowed him to shut down any newspaper which opposed his Social Credit regime. There was little question that his government enjoyed comfortable majority support for their anti-press initiatives. Back then, all that stood between him and the silencing of free expression were nine unelected judges in funny red outfits. Some of my best friends are hypocrites. Really. |